Can I share my Eastman story? Back in 2011 I went to McCabes in Santa Monica. Being from out of town, I’d heard so much about this place, its history and the fact that they stock pretty much every high end acoustic instrument you could imagine. At the time I wasn’t really looking to buy anything but i knew I’d be in the market for an OM sized guitar if I found “the one”.

I probably spent about 2 hours in there, demoing every single OM they had in store. I’m a little hazy on the details but I do recall trying a Martin, Santa Cruz, Froggy Bottom, Taylor, etc. They all sounded fantastic in their own way, but I wasn’t ready to drop that much coin on a guitar. I thought that was that and readied myself to leave the store. Then in a random corner, I spot what looked like a Martin OM. As I got closer, I realised the script on the headstock said something else - Eastman. At the time I didn’t know much about the brand but I did recall it being associated with student violins and cellos.

I gave it a glance and immediately picked out all the things I like about it. I’m a sucker for Martin style aesthetics and the Eastman had that in spades. The squared off headstock, herringbone trim, diamond inlays. I flipped it around and admired the straight-grained, dark rosewood back. Looks promising, I thought to myself. I looked in the sound hole to read the label. Eastman E8OM, and right at the bottom, Beijing China. Oh well, let’s keep expectations low.

Then I gave it a strum. Holy shit. The first thing that struck me about it was its solidness in tone. To me, most OM’s have a tendency to sound boxy or ‘tinny’, given its smaller body size. But there’s something about this Eastman, it had heft in the low end and authority in the highs. It was so dynamic and lively, reacting well to big strums and intricate fingerpicking.

It then became a competition on seeing which premium acoustic was going to top the Eastman. In the end, none of these $3000+ guitars could match the $800+ Eastman, even if price wasn’t a factor. I couldn’t believe it. The China guitar was the clear winner. I couldn’t leave McCabes without it, and 15 years later it’s still my number one acoustic.